Swingletree.



C V. ANTHENAT.

SWINGLETBEE.

APPLIOATIOH FILED SEPT. 1, 190s.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

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CHARLES V. ANTIIENAT, OF SHERIDAN, ILLINOIS.

SWINGLE'IREE Application tiled September l, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES V. AN rrinnafr, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Sheridan, in the county of Lasalle and State ofIllinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Swingletrees, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to swinglctrees and particularly to one adaptedfor use as a horse releaser, and the object of my invention is toprovide a device of this character that can be constructed principallyfrom a single piece of metal tubing, the said tubing having flattenedintermediate portions adapted to form shoulders inwardly of the ends ofsaid tubing, said tubingl being provided with cylindrical end portionsextend ing outwardly of said shoulders and slidable spring pressed boltsmounted in said cylindrical end portions and adapted for operation forengagement with trace ends of usual construction.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of theinvention is better disclosed, and it will be understood that changeswithin the scope of the claim may be resorted to Yitliout departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification and in whichlike characters of reference indicate similar parts in the severalviews, Figure 1 is a top plan view of the swingletree, Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is ahorizontal sectional view, Fig. t is a top plan view similar' to Fig. 1showing a complete swingletree, Fig. 5 is a'detail view of one of thestuds or finger pieces.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings there is shown aswingletree 1 which is preferably constructed from tubular metal and isprovided with cylindrical end portions 2 and an intermediate flattenedportion 3. By the construction of the flattened portion 3 it will bescen that a shoulder it is formed at the inner end of each of thecylindrical portions 2. In the front wall 5 of the portion 3 of the saidswingletree is formed a slot 6 through which pass chains or similarflexible elements 7, which chains pass over rollers 3 mounted upon pins9, the latter being mounted at their ends in the Lipper and lower wallsof the portion 3 as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. A portionof a carriage or vehicle shaft is Specification of Letters Patent.

Eaten/ced Aug. 3, 1909.

Serial. No. 451,181.

indicated at at and a swingletree is pivoted to said shaft by means ofthe bolt B.

In each end 2 of the swingletree is mountf ed a bolt 10 and as shown,each bolt is provided with a stud or finger piece 11 disposed in a slot12 formed adjacent to the end of the portion 2, and it will thus be seenthat the bolts are prevented from rotary movement but are effectivelymounted for movement longitudinally of the swingletree. Each bolt isprovided with a flattened outer end 13. Adjacent to each end, theportions 2 have slots 14 formed in their front and rear sides, and atthe upper and under sides, the walls of the slots are connected by bightor curved portions 15 which portions serve as stops to prevent verticalmovement of the trace ends. By the provision of the slots 14e it will beseen that the ends of the traces 1G may be passed through the portions2, and the portions 13 of the bolts 10 may be projected through the eyes17 formed in the traces, as shown. To eectively prevent the displacementof the portions 13 from engagement with the traces, I provide helicalsprings 13 which are mounted in the portions 2 of the swingletree andare disposed between the shoulders 1 and the inner ends of the bolts 10respectively and serve to normally hold the studs or linger pieces atthe outer ends of the slots 12. The chains 7 have their ends within theswingletree attached to the bolts 10, and the ends of the said chainsoutwardly of the slot 6 are connected by a ring or the like 11a adaptedto receive a snap hook 2O carried by a chain or flexible element 21. Inoperation, it may be stated that the chain 21 is carried to a convenientpoint in the vehicle in order that it may be conveniently grasped at thetime of a runaway, and by pulling the chain toward the driver of thevehicle it will be understood that the bolts 10 will be retracted ordrawn inwardly to disengage the portions 13 of the said bolts from thetraces, whereupon, it is obvious that an animal is free to escape fromthe shafts of the vehicle. The studs or inger pieces 11, as shown inFig. 5 of the drawings, are provided with threaded inner ends 19 toengage correspondingly threaded passages formed in the bolts.

From the foregoing it will be seen that a simple and inexpensiveswingletree is provided, and by constructing the same from hollow metaland by providing the circular end portions which are bent at the ends,it will be understood that in assembling parts of the device the springs18 may be first placed into the portions 2, and the bolts inserted next,after which, the studs or finger pieces ll may be engaged with the boltsto hold the saine from displacement.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is z- Adevice of the class described comprising a swingletree formed from metaltubing, said tubing having a flattened intermediate portion adapted toi'oini shoulders inwardly of the ends of said tubing, said tubing havingcylindrical end portions extending outwardly from the shoudeis, slidablebolts vmounted in said Cylindrical end portions,

said Cylindrical end portions having slots formed therein and disposedlongitudinally of the swingletree, removable studs carried by the boltsand slidably mounted in said slots, springs Coni-"ined between the innerends of said bolts and said shoulders, said cylindrical portions havingslots formed therein extending at right angles to the iirst named slots,traces having their ends disposed inV the last named slots, traceengaging means carried by said sliding bolts, and means for moving thebolts against the tension of said springs so that the said traceengaging means can be moved into disengaged positions.

ln testimony whereof l aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. CHARLES V. ANTHENAT.

.lVitnesses A. N. ANDERSON, JosEPi-i JAooBsoN.

